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Exactly a year has passed since I posted my Best Buys in 2011 post (I still love all the products mentioned there) and now it's time for the 2012 version.

How can this year be summarized? BB creams enter drugstore, sheer lipsticks trend continues with Revlon lip butters and L'Oreal's Rouge Caresse, the more and more popular ombre hair and berry lips. For me it was all about fragrances - mostly from Refan, bright lipsticks and finding great hair care products. I found some great products in this year and I've been doing a list of which ones deserve to be on it for the past few months. All have been reviewed, so I won't bore you with my endless raves, but there are links to original reviews if you want to find out more.

Makeup

L'Oreal Lumi Magique - gives the most natural glow to the skin. Can be used under foundation for a more glowy skin or as a highlighter on top.

Maybelline Instant Anti-Age the Eraser Eye - My favourite ever concealer for under the eyes. Never looks cakey, looks like skin and covers very well. I went to Graz yesterday and bought another shade called Fair.

Maybelline Vivids 910 Shocking Coral - bright medium pink with some coral. I just got it for Christmas and I haven't posted swatches yet, but I will shorty. It's a part of the newest range by Maybelline called Color Sensational Vivids and I have my eye on another shade called Neon Red.

Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair serum - I miss it so much. My skin looked so well when I was using it. I rarely got a spot and my skin looked more healthy. Why does it have to cost an arm and a leg?

Alverde Mandel Argan oil - an absolute drugstore gem. An actual oil with absolutely no silicones, just a mix of argan, mandel, walnut and soy oil. Been using it almost every day to treat my ultra dry ends. Run and get it.

Coco Mademoiselle Refan version - a less sweet version of Miss Dior Cherie. To me it smells like camomille tea with lots of honey mixed with patchouli. Even though it's a Refan version, it smells identical as the original. In fact all my Refan fragrances do and I have a lot of them. I drew (well, redrew and perfected) the picture on the label myself.

Here is the collection of all my 15ml Refan fragrances with customised labels made by me. As you can see I am a regular on Memebase and 9gag :) . Refan sells imitation of popular fragrances for a fraction of the cost of the original. So basically for the price of one original scent in a pretty bottle I got all these. From left to right: Deep Red (Hugo Boss), Body (Burberry), Chance (Chanel), Magic Woman, Coco Madeimoselle, 1 Million (for men, hence the "like a sir" meme. I know I'm weird for having a man's scent, but I just love it so much. I don't wear it though), Black Xs, Venezia, Emporio Armani for her and my latest that I got for Christmas, Roberto Cavalli eau de parfum (available in Croatian Refan). By the way, here is an updated list of all the scents Refan (Slovenia) sells at the moment.

Room scents

Saubär spray - a relaxing gorgeous smelling spray for pillows and room that smells like lavender and camomile.

Now for a kind of a random thing, but in the last month I've been loving Pinterest. I haven't been this excited about a website since 9gag and I've been there for years. It's so much fun. You can find my pins here and there is also a link under follow me in the sidebar.

Since this is the last post in 2012, I wish you a Happy New Year and may 2013 be an awesome year. Thanks for reading!

Time for the last part of my MUA haul (Part I, Part II). At a very affordable price, 1£ a piece, I could hardly say no these two. The pair are the cheapest lipsticks I own and I dare say the quality is not lacking because of that. I wanted the shade 15 Juicy for a while - well ever since I saw it on Katie's blog. I decided to get shade 13 after researching extensively on the internet what other shades I find appealing. Both are creamy and pigmented, they just glide over the lips. Both last long on the lips, red lasts longer of course, but even the light shade lasted about five hours.The packaging is nice, doesn't feel flimsy like from some others inexpensive brands. The end part can be screwed off and there is more more lipstick inside. While the red felt very photogenic, my camera refused to capture the real beauty of Juicy in the top picture (however, others pictures are very accurate). I found the picture on Beauty Quest Blog here to be the closest.

15 Juicy is a very peachy shade, but with a hint of pink. It's a brighter shade and it does stand out. It's similar to Barry M 147 peachy pink, but perhaps a touch less orange and with a much creamier formula. Since it is a lighter shade, it does emphasize dry patches, so make sure your lips are as smooth as they can be. My lips do get drier with passing hours when I'm wearing it, so dry patches become very apparent and it's doesn't look that nice up close. The colour is still very vivid, though. I do enjoy wearing peach shades and this is definitely one of the prettiest and appropriate for even someone as pale as me, however, my lips have to be perfect and moisturised to be able to wear it.

13 is an orange based red, very bright, in fact the brightest and lightest red I own so far. Again the formula is very creamy and pigmented. However, since it's a darker shade it lasts longer and nicer on the lips. Even after hours no dry patches appear. It's not that hard to find a cheap red shade of good quality and this one is no exception. It lasts long and wears off nicely leaving a stain behind.

It's Christmas tomorrow and I've baked a ton of cookies. Inspired by that I dug up my vanilla fragrance from Yves Rocher, because it's the most cookie smelling vanilla I've ever tried and I mix it with Noix de Coco eau de toilette. So now I smell like a pastry shop. Thanks for reading and happy Christmas!

And now for the second part of the MUA haul. Starting with cream blushes. They are actually bigger than I expected. There is a nice quantity of product and the packaging is big enough to be able to use a blush brush. I picked two colours out of four, Bittersweet (light barbie pink) and Dolly (coral-tan colour). These are very creamy and give a dewy glow to the cheeks, more so than Maybelline's Dream Cream blushes.

When I first tried Bittersweet, I was shocked to see that there was no pigment whatsoever, just a clear cream. Fortunately, it turned out it was just the very top layer that was like that. It's actually quite pigmented and shows up well on my cheeks (however, I'm very pale). It blends nicely and gives a very lovely kind of barbie/doll pink cheek. Very cute, but I wonder how it would perform on someone darker than me. Surprisingly it lasted a quite a few hours, which is more than I expected from a 2£ blush, especially since it is a pale colour. I apply it with fingers or with a brush (I use a synthetic Real Techniques contour brush).

Dolly is very, very pigmented. I can't apply it with fingers because I always get way to much colour on. I prefer to apply it with my Real Techniques contour brush to get a lighter flush. This shade looks on me almost like a natural slight sunburn or a bit of tan, quite a lovely natural colour. Because it's a more pigmented blush, it lasts very well on the cheeks and fades slowly.

I got two individual eyeshadows. One is from the pearl line called shade 12, a brown green duochrome colour, the second is matte shade 15, a very light pink. Both are very pigmented and blend nicely. They are soft, the pearl one is almost like a creamy texture and the matte one is more powdery. Both drop a bit because they are so soft.

Shade 12 looks very dark green in the packaging, but applied lightly looks warm brown. When you intensify it with more layers it gets a slight greeny blue sheen. However, it's hard to get so much colour on the lid to see the duochrome effect, also it fades fast, so for the most part it just stays sort of brownish taupe colour. It blends out nicely into a light warm brown shade. I heard it's close to Mac's Club eyeshadow, but I don't have that shade so I can't compare.

I got shade 15 as an all over colour. I wanted something matte and it was just a pound, so I gave it a go. It's a good brightening shadow because of this pinky hue. I imagine it would work well also as a setting powder under the eyes, but I haven't tried it for that yet.

Intense glitter eyeliner in Gold Nugget is not exactly gold, but more a copper gold shade. It makes my eyes look more blue than gray. It's more creamy and applies without dragging. It can be used all over the lid as a base for gold eyeshadow to intensify the look. For a pound you can't miss.

I bought Heaven and Earth palette as a Christmas gift for my counsin, hence no swatches. There is a good selection of neutrals, so it's a nice palette to have.

I'm sure you've heard of MUA before, but for those of you who haven't, it's a affordable line of makeup based in the UK. I think of it as an equivalent for American E.l.f. or German Essence. Anyway, they had an offer with a code for 40% off entire purchase and I couldn't let it pass. This is my first experience with MUA brand and I must say it's not bad. For one they send me five nail polishes for free, but more on this later. The package arrived quickly, something I wasn't expecting, especially since I was sure they will be swamped with orders because of the offer. I took a lot of pictures of the products and the haul is not that small, therefore I decided to make three separate posts. I hope you don't mind.

Here is a link to their store and I suggest you like their facebook page to be informed of the offers on time.

As I said before, I got five nail quake polishes for free. The shades from left to right are: Quiver (cobalt blue), Broken Arrow (purple), Shattered Ice (silver), Shiver (beautiful coral pink) and Jailbreak (black). As a base I have the silver holographic nail polish by Depend, except on my little finger where I have Essence 63 Purple cherry (discontinued).

I have a confession to make. I dislike crackle polishes. In the last two years that crackle polishes are all the rage, I never even considered trying one. Honestly, I don't find the look of cracked nail polish appealing or pretty at all. I was kind of happy that the crackle craze was finally dying down. But hey, now I have five. And I still haven't changed my mind. However, I do really like the shades they sent. If any of nail polish experts out there is reading this, can you please recommend me dupe shades for regular nail polishes? Mostly I would like to know a dupe for Quiver and Shiver, please.

There are a lot of homemade beauty recipes. Everything from hair masks, face masks, scrubs, etc. that you can make at home. I use quite a few, all from ingredients that I always have at home. Most recipes I stumble upon either online (mainly MUA) or in some magazine use some ingredients I'd have to go buy specifically for that mask or treatment (like avocado for example) and because I'm usually not that committed to do that my collection of recipes is rather limited. But these are all the ones I use quite regularly.

First thing that I use very often are oils. Mostly I use them for my hair. My favourites are coconut, macadamia and olive oil. The first two are great for really dry hair. Coconut oil reduces protein loss, helps hair growth, gives shine, plus it's smells nice. It's great for your scalp and helps with dandruff. The latter can also be applied to macadamia oil (a fact I have noticed myself). Macadamia oil contains a lot of vitamins and minerals that your hair needs. It makes your hair more silky and smooth, it's also supposed to help hair growth. The one that I have (from Spar) has a very nutty scent. My mum doesn't like it, I personally don't mind it that much, but yes, coconut oil does smell nicer. Coconut oil is solid at room temperature, so you have to warm it up between your hands to melt it and then apply it on your hair.

I use oils as a pre-wash treatment, which means I apply oil generously all-over the hair including massaging it into my scalp. I leave it on for at least an hour, but the more the better. Do not be afraid to leave it on overnight (wrap you hair in a towel or put on a shower cap to avoid getting your pillows greasy). Then I proceed with my normal routine - shampoo, conditioner and styling products. It makes such a difference, my hair feels more moisturised, I feel like my conditioner works better, it feels more silky and smooth. If your hair is very dry give this a go.

There is plenty more uses for oils, like as a make up remover (great for removing waterproof mascara) or as a moisturiser.

This is a mask that my hairdresser recommended when she noticed how dry my hair is. She recommended to use egg yolk on my hair. It contains a lot of protein that help to strengthen the hair, make it less brittle and dry. As with oils I use it as a pre-wash treatment. You can use both the egg yolk and egg white if your hair is normal or use only egg white is your hair is oily.

First I beat one or two egg yolks and then add a tablespoon or two of oil (olive, macadamia, coconut,...). I add a bit of honey, I usually just eyeball the amount of all ingredients. I find that this mixture is too runny to just apply it on my hair, so I add conditioner to make it thicker. I apply it on dry hair all over including the scalp and leave it on for 15-30 minutes. Be careful that the water is not too hot when your rinsing it off.

Baking soda is another very useful product to have. I use it as a face scrub. It makes my skin amazingly soft. Add water to make a thin paste and apply it on your face avoiding the eyes. I usually leave it on for a few minutes while I brush my teeth, then very gently massage it in and rinse it off (key word here is gentle, otherwise you might end up with a burn). I don't use it too often, but for now it's the only scrub I use, it's just so cheap and actually effective.

Aspirin and honey mask is a remedy I use when my skin starts to misbehave. Aspirin contains acetylsalicylic acid, a cousin of salicylic acid. It does not have the same properties that are good for preventing acne and blackheads, but it works anti-inflammatory. This means it will help reduce the redness. Honey is antibacterial, contains loads of vitamins, antioxidants and minerals. You can use them separately of course. I use honey mask when my skin is mega dry and it works better than any moisturiser I ever tried. And I used to use aspirin mask without honey. I just used 1 or 2 uncoated aspirin, then add a drop of water and it dissolves instantly. It looks like a thick paste which I applied on the face. Now I add honey just so it's easier to apply and it works even better. You can also add cinnamon, or make a honey & cinnamon mask. Cinnamon is another ingredient that works antimicrobial.

I've been using aspirin toner for quite a while now. It's very simple to make. Just use two aspirins (there really is no need for more and it's expensive), dissolve them in warm water and it's done. I also add some aloe vera and honey, but it's not necessary. I make about 20 - 30 ml at a time, never the whole bottle. This toner is also great for razor bumps.

There is another modemade toner I used to use and it is camomile tea. It's another type of toner that helps calm down inflammations. The only bad side is that you have to make fresh pots regularly. We grow camomile at home so there is not fear of any chemicals.

If a massive red spot appears on your face and you need it to disappear as fast as possible, try ice cubes. Just hold an ice cube on the spot and it will calm the inflammation and reduce the redness.

Sugar scrub is probably the most known home made recipe and it's so easy to make. I often use it, because I don't have a habit of buying scrubs regularly. Most scrubs on the market contain sugar anyway. I just eyeball the amount of sugar and olive oil plus I sometimes add some honey.

Some homemade recipes I tried and didn't like:

Vinegar - In my desperate attempts to rid myself of dandruff I tried apple vinegar. You apply it on your scalp for a few minutes and then rinse your hair with some more. It's supposed to remove build up and add shine to your hair. Well in my experience it dried it out like nobody's business. It looked and felt like straw. I needed some heavy duty conditioner to fix it. Not for me.

Lavender oil - It's supposed to be a great spot treatment. I did not notice any difference at all.

And what are your homemade recipes? I'd love to read about it in the comments, you know - sharing is caring.

One more thing about a project I've been doing for the past two days. I made a swatch gallery of all the lipstick, lip gloss and lip liner on this blog. You can find it here and among the top tabs (under the blog banner).

I don't discriminate fragrances based on who is behind them and this is one of the coolest looking perfume bottles ever. It's one of those fragrances a lot of people would consider a bit boring, but I really like the initial grape soda note.

2. Orofluido

My bottle is running seriously low now so I need to repurchase it. I'll probably buy it from here because it's the cheapest price including the shipping. Needless to say it's one of my favourite products ever.

3. Revlon Lip Butters

I just discovered that they are sold in Slovenia in Ilirija (more here under Revlon) so I can finally see and test the shades in person. I'm most interested in shades Berry Smoothie, Sweet Tart and Candy Apple. For Slovene readers these are also sold on Click2chic.si (though expensive including shipping).

4. Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair

I ran out of my bottle earlier in the Summer and my skin misses it so much. Why does it have to be so expensive? My skin looked gazillion times better when I was using it.

5. MAC Cremesheen + Pearl Coral Bliss

I ordered a sample from thebodyneeds2 when they had 20% off and it is the prettiest light coral-pink shade. They just had an offer for 36% discount and I ordered some more samples, mainly red shades. Oh, and I just wanted to give a little praise to them, because they wrote thank you in Slovene on the invoice and I thought it was really thoughtful.

6. The Body Shop Chocomania line

We don't have TBS in Slovenia. If we had it, I'd probably be there all the time. I get a chance sometimes when I'm in Graz. Anyway, I'm most intrigued by Chocomania line. I mean chocolate scented product: yes, please! I'd love to have at least the body butter or beautifying oil. For TBS products I rely on eBay.

7. Nyx Cream Blush

I love cream blushes and there are one of the cheapest and highly praised. However, there are some other blushes I'm interested in, particularly in Stila's Convertible Color in Gerbera and MAC's Something Special Cremeblend blush. You can get Nyx on cherryculture.com, nonpareilboutique.com and eBay.

8. The Body Shop Vineyard Peach line

Is another line I'd love to try out. I absolutely love the scent of peaches and I think I'll try the body butter someday. Of course, if I find one appropriately priced on eBay.

Slovenia is not known for it's great selection of (drugstore) make up. By my count we have about 12 brands that are available in most drugstores, but it is getting better. It's about the same range of brands as is all countries of central Europe (the influence of Műller and DM is really dominant here), also in other European countries. Of course we have less brands and even those carry limited ranges (I'll explain more in individual descriptions). I set on doing a post that features the products I own from individual brands, my experiences in general with the brands and maybe to help some make up addicts who intend to visit our little country and are interested in what our drugstores have to offer. There are three mayor drugstores: Müller (the biggest), DM (most common) and Tuš Drogerije (I actually only been in the one in Kočevje, so I don't know what brands they carry, if someone can fill me in it'd be much appreciated). E.Leclerc also carries some brands, as does Boutique (Maximarket), Limoni, Nama, Ilirija and some bigger Interspars and Mercators. I'm not sure what happened to Douglas. I did a post about favourite drugstore products here and here is a post on drugstore disappoitments.

Alverde

Is a brand available only in DMs. They pride themselves on offering a range of make up based on natural ingredients. It's fairly cheap, I think I paid 3€ for their baked eyeshadow. Since it is a more natural line, some products contain a lot of denaturised alcohol, like their liquid blushes. This results in quite an odd scent of some products that not everyone would like. I love their eyeliner brush (it cost less that 2€, my favourite brush for gel eyeliner) and their baked eyeshadows. I hated their gel eyeliners, but I believe those were just a part of LE collection. A Müller equivalent of a natural brand is Terra Natura (Thanks Taya) in the same price range.

Bourjois

Without a doubt one of my favourite drugstore brands. They have amazing foundations (Healthy Mix), lipsticks (Rouge Edition), lip pencils, eye pencils and lip glosses. My cousin loved their mascara Volumizer (with 2 steps). I do, though, dislike their blushes and bronzer, but some people swear by them. It's not the cheapest brand, Healthy Mix foundation costs 14€, but you get what you pay for. It's also one of the rare brands that carries shades of foundations that are appropriate for us Snow Whites. It's available in most DMs and Müllers, also in Leclerc, Nama and Tuš Drogerija.

Catrice

It's a fairly new brand here, but a great one. I think most were really excited when Müller finally started to carry this brand here (also sold in DM and Tuš Drogerija). They have awesome lipsticks, eyeshadows (cream and powder), nail polishes and those are the products I've tried so far. So far I haven't been disappointed by them, well apart from Lashes to Kill mascara, but it's not bad, just average. Eyeshadows and nail polishes cost around 2-3€, lipsticks are 3-4€.

Deborah

This is the only brand I don't own anything from right now. My mum loves their Atomic lipstick in 09. It's the only lipstick she's repurchased so far and it's the only thing she wears. I used to have their bronzer, but it was too orange and their blush, which was quite nice. Their lipsticks cost around 9-10€. It's available in most DM's and Müllers, also in Nama and Leclerc.

L'Oreal

Is everywhere. It's probably the most intentional brand, closely followed by Maybelline. But we only get a fraction of what's available in the UK or US. It's one of my favourite drugstore brands. I mean it is expensive, but most of their product are really good quality. I love their Infallible eyeshadows, mascaras, Lumi Magique primer/highlighter, lipsticks, Super Liner and there is probably some more. Unfortunately, they don't carry foundations that are light enough for me, so I don't know how they perform.

Essence

A lot can be said about Essence, but to sum it up in a few words: affordable, innovative and colourful. I own a pile of stuff from them, both from regular lines and from numerous trend editions they release. It's one of the most fun brands available. I love their nail polishes (cheap, great range of shades), Stay with Me lipglosses, Stay all Day eyeshadows, gel eyeliners, Sun Club blotting sheets and much more. I did a favourites post here. Their lipstick are more like glossy tinted moisturisers, which are great for those who are afraid of wearing more pigmented lipsticks. I don't like their eyeliners, lipliners (some love them, though), eyeshadows and foundations, also I find their mascaras quite average. It's available in DM, Müller, Tuš Drogerija, Ilirija, Leclerc and larger Mercators.

Manhattan

A brand that doesn't get much attention, but I adore their lip creams. It's the brand I used to buy almost everything from when I was in my early teens. It used to be the cheapest brand here, before essence of course. I bought my first mascara and lipgloss from them, also quite a lot of nail polishes. They have very pigmented lipsticks, good lipglosses, nice single eyeshadows, but bad trio eyeshadows. Lipliners and eyeliners are average. Sold in DM and Tuš Drogerije, it might be sold in some Müllers as well .

Maybelline

One of the easiest brands to find, however, and there is a huge however, the range of products available here is severely limited. Most of their, in my opinion, best products never reach our drugstores. For one it's one of my favourite concealers Instant Anti-Age Eye Eraser. It's available in Croatia, but not in Slovenia. What's the deal with that Maybelline? Another example: their Dream Touch blushes, available in most Carrefours in France (something like Interspar here), but not in Slovenia. Bonkers - the only appropriate word for this. Apart from blushes and concealer I also like their mascaras and lipsticks. I didn't like any of their foundations so far, also most of them are too dark.

Max Factor

I believe Max Factor is like an equivalent for Cover Girl, hence the similar products. They have fantastic eyeliners and I liked most of their mascaras (all of the ones with plastic brushes). They have nice lipsticks and foundations (most don't have a shade light enough, though Liquid Illusion has one). It's available almost everywhere. Oh, and if you're looking for their cream blushes, so far I've only seen them in Nama. It's in the Bourjois/L'Oreal price range.

Misslyn

The newest brand available here. I've never heard about it until about a year ago, when it appeared in Müllers. They have an impressive range of products, everything you need from regular things like lipsticks to a wide range of falsies, lash curlers, etc. So far the only thing I bought from them are individual false eyelashes (size 2, no glue included), which are too short for me. Prices are very affordable, somewhere in the Catrice/Manhattan range.

Revlon

Available in Müller and Illirija, it's finally picked up after a rather odd era of nothing new coming in and now there is actually quite a current selection of their makeup sold here. I used to own their Colorstay foundation, but the lightest shade was too pink, I hated the strong alcohol scent and there was no pump. I love their Luxurious eyeliner in the shade Antiqued Gold and their Lip Butter are nice as well. I used to live next to Illirija (Vič, Ljubljana, Tržaška cesta, by the factory and next to the petrol station, opposite of Mercator, you can't miss it. Take the number 6 city bus) and there were some awesome deals, eyeliners for a 1€, the lightest shades of Colorstay and Photoready for 2€.

S-he Stylezone

Is only available in DM and (this is just my opinion) I honestly find it a bit lame. I like their huge nail polishes range, but the rest is just blah. They have a big colour range of lipsticks and almost all of them I find completely unwearable for me (it's like a festival of weird frosty shades. I hate frosty finish). There are a few exceptions, though. I like their mono eyeshadows (great quality), but their liners and quads are terrible. It's in the essence price range.

Müller also carries Isadora, Artdeco and Make up Factory; some Müllers have Pupa, however, they are too expensive to be considered drugstore brands.

Brands that disappeared from our drugstores are Wet'n'Wild (try nonpareilboutique.com or eBay), Rimmel (but available in every other country. I suggest a visit to Croatia, Austria or Italy, if all fails try feelunique or Asos), Margaret Astor (Austria), Nivea (doesn't exists anymore), Gosh, Miss Sporty (I'm not sure if it's still sold in Tuš Drogerija).

Update December 2013: Limoni has left Slovenia and there is no drugstore department in inside Leclerc any more, but makeup is still sold there in a small shop across it.